Curriculum

Great Teaching, Great Learning, Great Fun!

‘The curriculum is outstanding and is enhanced by an extensive range of extra activities and enrichment opportunities for pupils.’ Ofsted

At Marine Academy Primary, we have developed our own Marine Curriculum, where children learn through exploration, which is comprehensive, has a clear process of learning with specific learning goals for every National Curriculum subject, for personal learning and for international mindedness. Our Curriculum sets out clear progression and application of skills across all areas. Parents can have total confidence that the needs of every child, as they grow and develop, can be catered for throughout their years in education with us at Marine Academy Primary.

We offer a broad, exciting curriculum which enables each individual pupil to become an effective learner who can go on to realise his or her ambitions. The Marine Curriculum has been developed for pupils to follow with their specific learning needs in mind. The demands of the 21st century mean that our pupils will need to be alert to the new technologies and possibilities that these will create, and be able to swiftly adapt to change. We aim to ensure pupils are independently minded and confident citizens of the future. We have created our own Marine Curriculum by adapting the best of The International Primary Curriculum (IPC), which is a practical tool for teachers to help children learn. Behind the practical components of the IPC are our own beliefs about education, teaching, learning and curriculum.

Marine Academy Primary has developed the International Primary Curriculum to ensure that we have created a curriculum which enables children to:

Learn the essential knowledge, skills and understanding of the broad range of National Curriculum subjects.

Engage with their learning so that they remain committed to learning throughout their school careers and beyond.

Develop the personal qualities they need to be good citizens in an ever-changing world.

Develop a sense of their own nationality and culture at the same time as developing a profound respect for the nationalities and cultures of others, especially those throughout Modern Britain.

What does our curriculum at Marine Academy Primary cover?

English

Maths

RE

Science

Art and Design

French

History

Geography

Citizenship

PSHE

SMSC including ‘Britishness’ and Modern British Values

Design and Technology

Music

Performing Arts

Computing

PE Internationalism

We teach discrete Phonics/Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar, Guided Reading, English, Maths, Science and Computing sessions but also provide links to our topics where possible. In addition to this, we ensure that we apply the basic skills learnt in these subjects when teaching the other National Curriculum subjects throughout our themes.

Each new theme or topic includes a ‘WOW’ event in order to introduce the theme to the children. We ensure that every class either goes on an educational off site visit or has a visitor to the Academy at least once every six weeks. The very first lesson is always completed as a knowledge harvest in order to understand children’s prior knowledge and each unit ends with a celebration event.

Children study all the subjects found in the National Curriculum, including French and/or Spanish at Key Stages 1 and 2.

For their Phonics/Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar, English and Maths lessons the pupils are streamed according to ability.

The needs of the individual are paramount, so groups will remain flexible and pupils will be moved around according to their current needs to ensure all make good progress.

Why did we choose to adapt the IPC and create our own curriculum at Marine Academy Primary?

There are currently over seventy different units of learning from the IPC for our team to choose from in conjunction with Headteacher and Curriculum Leader. This releases our teaching staff leaders from the task of planning the ‘what’, thereby providing time and energy to focus on the ‘how’ which engages learners in a creative curriculum. In contrast, teachers are still able to choose topics which are not part of the IPC as long as they inspire our learners and ensure the correct coverage across the National Curriculum.

This unique curriculum also has a strong element of internationalism built into learning. For our children at Marine Academy Primary, we recognise the constraints on cultural provision in the South West of England. By adapting the IPC, we are central to a learning global community. The elements of the International Dimension for our children to:

• Recognise their own culture and have a sense of identity
• Be open-minded
• Be respectful of other cultures and beliefs (be sensitive to other cultures and beliefs)
• Be aware of and be able to celebrate diversity and commonality
• Have respect for and value other people and their ideas and opinions
• Be able to communicate (have good intrapersonal skills)
• Be adaptable
• Be aware of and have an interest in global issues

Learning for the Pupils at Marine Academy Primary

Children’s learning is the central purpose of everything we do at Marine Academy Primary. Helping children learn – academically, socially, spiritually, emotionally, morally, culturally and physically – is the real purpose for us at the Academy. What children learn should respect the past but should be of help to them in their future lives. Children’s learning responds to their current and future personal needs, their future career needs and the needs of the varied societies and cultural groups in which they are likely to play a part.

Learning is active, in the sense that children engage with their own learning. This means that learning which is relevant to the future must be placed in a context that is meaningful to their present lives. Children share a responsibility for their learning with their teachers, Parents/Carers and community.

Reading

Parents will be closely involved in supporting their children’s reading development. Children are encouraged to read at home daily. We use a range of home reading schemes at Marine Academy Primary, including Oxford Reading Tree and Collins Big Cat. Every ten times a child reads at home, they receive a prize from Mrs. Meredith, Headteacher.

Phonics and Spelling

Children start daily systematic synthetic Phonics sessions, based on the Letters and Sounds document, from the beginning of Pre-School. All children are streamed based on their ability and recognition of both letters and sounds. The children are taught in their groups by various highly skilled adults throughout the year, ensuring that all children make good progress in their phonological awareness and use of Phonics.

Children will continue to learn all six phases of Phonics throughout Key Stage 1 until they are ready to move onto Spelling sessions. Spelling is taught in a similar way to Phonics and continues to take place daily in Key Stage 2 or when children are ready to move onto this.

Maths

There is a structured mathematics programme from Pre-School, which is dynamic and flexible. Children are assessed and grouped according to their ability so they will be able to work with others who are at the same stage in the curriculum.

Science

Science is taught across the school on a weekly basis. At Marine Academy Primary, Science is an important core element and forms the basis of the topics taught through the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) but is also taught discretely.
Science and our Marine based curriculum give children the opportunities to satisfy their natural curiosity in the world around them. Working with Plymouth University and the National Marine Aquarium, we encourage children to find rational explanations of what they observe and stimulate their enthusiasm for finding out about the natural world.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) Development

What is SMSC?

SMSC stands for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. All schools in England must show how well their pupils develop in SMSC.

SMSC development is now referenced throughout Ofsted's School Inspection Handbook. At Marine Academy Primary, we have a thoughtful and wide-ranging promotion of pupils’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development and their physical well-being, which enables them to thrive in a supportive, highly cohesive learning community. Please see the SMSC display in the Marine Academy Primary Meeting Room for additional evidence of some of our SMSC activities.

Parents and Carers

We encourage Parents and Carers to be involved as much as possible with their children’s learning; there are regular opportunities for Parent/Carer engagement with the school through consultation meetings, parent classes, Early Morning Learning and numerous school events.
From Reception, Parents/Carers are encouraged to come into the classroom at the start of the school day and learn alongside their children.